Milk (US - BD)
Gabe knows that bad puns don't do a body good, but he can't help himself...
Feature
Milk was not one of those enormously well-reviewed pictures I assumed I’d like. My hesitation came from three factors: one, director Gus Van Sant, two, actor Sean Penn, and three, my weariness towards biographical features. These three factors often make even the most even tempered film critic go mad with encomium. Based on a small series of documentaries on gay culture I knew enough about the real life Harvey Milk to know he was worthy of a feature length biopic, but I wasn’t about to assume the best, I was going to see it myself.

Possible issue number one is Van Sant. Van Sant has, from the beginning, been an art film director trapped in a Hollywood machine. As a director he is equally capable of greatness and awfulness. Since the success of Drugstore Cowboy Van Sant has mixed feel good Hollywood, with dark character pieces. Following his biggest monetary success, Good Will Hunting, he made two major release failures, Psycho and Finding Forester. Following this Van Sant seems to have retreated back into true independence, making a trilogy of visually interesting, but thematically thin, and painfully deliberate films. The latter two films, Elephant and Last Days (the other film is Gerry), were pseudo docu-dramas, recounting the final days surrounding two seminal ‘90s tragedies—the Columbine massacre, and Kurt Cobain’s suicide—without naming names, or following any real facts.
Early reports attached openly gay director Bryan Singer to a Harvey Milk biopic, which seemed like a good fit, and a good return to reality based storytelling for the director following three comic book properties, the last of which, Superman Returns, was a critical and box office disappointment. Singer’s The Mayor of Castro Street was stopped thanks to the writer’s strike, leaving room for Van Sant’s adaptation. For me this was bad news. The minor brouhaha surrounding the pre-production led to some made-for-TV documentaries, which drummed up my interest in the subject. I’m a pretty big fan of Singer’s slick direction, and following three interesting, but ultimately numbing films I wasn’t too trusting of Van Sant’s abilities.

One didn’t have to use too much imagination to picture a depressing march towards assassination when considering Van Sant’s run-up filmography. Elephant and Last Days were both built on foregone conclusions, and more than nominally depressing. Fortunately, he’s got a few surprises in him, and makes almost exclusively perfect choices in crafting this real life story of a larger than life character. Milk is equally raw to the director’s later films, not the slick and sleek like Good Will Hunting (or what Singer would’ve likely created). Van Sant embraces the period look, almost matching the look of the archive footage spliced into the mix (it’s interesting to note that no actress was hired to play the villainous Anita Bryant, she’s presented entirely in archive form). Milk’s production is so significantly ‘70s that only contemporary performers, and a few sappy musical cues gives away the film’s actual age. There are a few cases of Van Sant overindulging in the warmth of his subject, but overall the tempo and tone to which he presents the story is pitch perfect, and a surprising mix of varying elements of his varied career. When the film works, it’s positively euphoric.
I do wish I’d gotten myself together and to a theatre to watch Darren Arronofky’s The Wrestler before I sat down to write this review, so that I’d be able to fairly compare Mickey Rourke’s Oscar losing performance and Sean Penn’s Oscar winning performance, but I didn’t, so I can’t. Though I know it may constitute the censure of my movie lover’s card, I’m stating plainly that I’m not a very big fan of Penn, and after his much undeserved Oscar win for his excruciatingly overstated Mystic River performance I’ve more or less avoided watching him act at all. I’m very excited to announce that the Milk performance is not Penn’s usually miserable schmuck take on a character. The gruff little embellishment machine virtually disappears into an honest portrayal of an almost exceedingly pleasant man. Even more impressively, Penn avoids boring impersonation, which so often plagues Hollywood performances based on flamboyant real people.

The only problem with Penn’s performance is that it has overshadowed the film’s three other mammoth performances. Among these three I can all but guarantee that every single one will have an Oscar of their own within the next decade or so. James Franco is quickly overcoming his Spider-Man series persona (and his character is dead now, so he’s done with that for good). The actor’s understated work here is probably the film’s most consistent. Franco brings honesty and a solid foundation to the entire film, as I’m sure the real Scott Smith did for the people around him. Josh Brolin, who’s been having a bang-up last couple of years, makes the story’s villain into a multi-dimensional human being, who garners genuine sympathy. More importantly I see almost none of Dr. William Block, Llewelyn Moss, or George W. Bush personality in Dan White. Perhaps the most sensational member of the cast is Emile Hirsch, who like Penn almost entirely disappears into the real Cleve Jones, without becoming a caricature. I hate to devolve into the usual film critic hyperbole, but following Into the Wild and, yes, even Speed Racer, Hirsch may be the talent to watch in the next decade.
Which brings us to the third possibly fatal factor— Milk is yet another Hollywood biography. Am I the only one tired of biographies? I’m not talking about movies based on true stories, but power-point presentations of a person’s life. All one has to do is check the best picture nominations since 2000, which include Erin Brockovich, A Beautiful Mind, Ray, The Aviator, Capote, and The Queen. A look at the major actor nominations of 2007 alone adds Into the Wild, La Vie en Rose, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Charlie Wilson’s War, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford to the mix. The lesson to be learned is that biopics pay off in Oscar noms, and I’m just cynical enough to assume that’s the only motivation behind their production.

Milk fits into the average biopic mould, and is set to the traditional bullet point structure. The film bounces casually from one important microcosm to another, ignoring the other thousands of events that occurred over Harvey Milk’s forty-eight years. This is obviously the best way to tell such a story, but it’s still kind of cookie cutter in its approach. Van Sant handles the large expanses of time in a similarly nonchalant fashion to Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain (though in this case there are on-screen time markers), and the film’s pacing is graceful, like a miniature version of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. More importantly, however, is the timing of the film. Milk isn’t just some randomly released biopic, it was released weeks after Californians voted yes on Proposition 8, which mirrored Proposition 6, the motion Harvey Milk and his friends helped defeat in 1978. True story filmmaking makes the most sense when it can make a statement about current events.
Video
Like I talked about in the feature section, Milk is an old looking movie on purpose. Gus Van Sant mixes his new footage convincingly with news reels and stock footage from the era, so the print is very grainy, the colours are a bit washed out, and the details are often obscured by slighted and natural lighting. If you’re buying this particular Blu-ray to impress your friends, you’re probably going to be disappointed. Of course, that’s not the point. Among all the grit and grain is a generally clean print, free of damage and major artefacts. The tangible film look leads to some minor noise in the warmer colours, but nothing too associated with compression artefacts, it’s just a lack of theatrical lighting. The details are a little fuzzy and inconsistent, which is just another symptom of the Cinema Verite style.

Audio
The lo-fi filming style leads to a very simple sound design. There is quite a bit of surround elements during outdoor street scenes, especially during the big rally and march sequences, but the application is rather low-key. The majority of the sound is dialogue based, and effectively centred on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Occasionally the sound of the dialogue does bleed a bit into the stereo channels. The rear channels are more or less devoted to the occasional crowd and car effects, and extra bits of musical score. The big protest march scene is the most aggressive piece of the entire track, filled with chanting voices, revving motorcycle engines, roaring bullhorns, and more score. The music, written by Danny Elfman, is good and interesting music on its own, but it often doesn’t quite fit the scene, and is generally too present. The one aspect of ‘70s independent film that Van Sant and company simply didn’t get was the use of music. In the era music was often reserved for very select scenes, and was pretty minimalist otherwise.
Extras
Extras begin with ‘Remembering Harvey’, a featurette concerning the real story, which compares the real people (via interviews) to their on-screen counterparts. It’s a little too short, only thirteen and a half minutes, but it’s a nice overview of the situation, and a nice forum for his friends to talk frankly about how he changed their lives and the gay movement.

‘Hollywood Comes to San Francisco’ is a semi-making of featurette/EPK, but also acts as an additional forum for speaking about Harvey Milk’s accomplishments. The major players (minus Penn and Van Sant, of course) are interviewed about the subject and the behind the scenes process, which is then intercut with scenes from the film, and raw behind the scenes footage. There’s the usually amount of back-patting that usually shows up in EPKs, but there’s also some information to be gleaned. The featurette runs fourteen and a half minutes.
‘Marching for Equality’ closes out the disc with an eight minute look at the filming of the film’s major marching re-enactment. Some of the people involved were at the actual event, and are interviewed about the experience. The detail that went into the recreation of the march, and the re-dressing of the Castro Street is pretty cool, and the short glimpses into random people’s lives are touching.

Overall
Milk is a very good film, and one that is very easy to recommend. My early expectations based on director Gus Van Sant, and actor Sean Penn’s recent careers were largely proven wrong, much to my delight. The video and audio quality is a little blunted by the film’s induced documentary style, and the extras selection is much more heartfelt than informative. In a perfect world the disc would include a feature length historical documentary like The Times of Harvey Milk, but the movie itself will have to do us this time around.
Many critics say the Academy’s selection of Penn as the year’s best actor is a belated protest against Prop. 8. I’m curious as to the point of that action, if that reasoning is sound, this far after the fact, but do hope the film itself will find its audience on home video.
* Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray release.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Advertisements
Existing Posts
lets hear it for marriage
Lincoln6Echo wrote:
Sorry if the 7000-year-old definition of marriage offends you. And that's what it is all about...it's that simple.
You want civil unions...fine...but don't change the definition of a word just to suit an alternative lifestyle.
Yep lets hear it for that 7,000 year definition of marriage, a definition that includes such "simple" things as almost every case of incest in the last 7000 years been the direct result of marriage, the fact that untill the early 20th century Child brides, often as young as 8 year old girls, were perfectly acceptable and legal throughout the western world.....
which also brings us to the tricky subject of arranged arranged marriages, which essentially was sexual slavery for some women ,not to mention the continual subjigation of ALL women as wives untill about 50 years ago when the womens liberation movement defeated 6500 years of oppression and lack of basic freedoms and rights, and finally the sad fact that 95 percent of sexual abuse of children still occurs in marrigaes, mostly between a father and daughter....
Hooray for Marriage !
thank you Lincoln6echo for reminding me of the "simplicity" that marriage has brought to this world of ours....
Sorry if the 7000-year-old definition of marriage offends you. And that's what it is all about...it's that simple.
You want civil unions...fine...but don't change the definition of a word just to suit an alternative lifestyle.
Yep lets hear it for that 7,000 year definition of marriage, a definition that includes such "simple" things as almost every case of incest in the last 7000 years been the direct result of marriage, the fact that untill the early 20th century Child brides, often as young as 8 year old girls, were perfectly acceptable and legal throughout the western world.....
which also brings us to the tricky subject of arranged arranged marriages, which essentially was sexual slavery for some women ,not to mention the continual subjigation of ALL women as wives untill about 50 years ago when the womens liberation movement defeated 6500 years of oppression and lack of basic freedoms and rights, and finally the sad fact that 95 percent of sexual abuse of children still occurs in marrigaes, mostly between a father and daughter....
Hooray for Marriage !
thank you Lincoln6echo for reminding me of the "simplicity" that marriage has brought to this world of ours....

Bigot is a 7,000 year-old-word as well - and it appears to have the same definition as always. Welcome to the human race.
You know David, I was going to say something rude about the predictability of you posting something negative in the gay movie forum, but I'm too surprised that you're willing to accept civil unions.
That's a big step from that Brokeback Mountain forum a few years back.
That's a big step from that Brokeback Mountain forum a few years back.
losthighway wrote: As for it being a belated protest against Prop 8, doubtful! I think America has already proven it's homophobic credentials over the years and a film like this wouldn't sway the conservative majority...
Sorry if the 7000-year-old definition of marriage offends you. And that's what it is all about...it's that simple.
You want civil unions...fine...but don't change the definition of a word just to suit an alternative lifestyle.
Sorry if the 7000-year-old definition of marriage offends you. And that's what it is all about...it's that simple.
You want civil unions...fine...but don't change the definition of a word just to suit an alternative lifestyle.
I wasn't diggin' for complements, I just wanted you to notice that I, too, normally don't like Penn. I'm getting a little paranoid about the comments section apparently.
Gabe Powers wrote: Did you read my review?
Me? Yes, I read it, and appreciated your review. I read all the reviews you post, and like the style, and the manner in which your reviews are written. This one being no exception.
Your review is the closest I will get to seeing it for a good long time. Will I ever? Maybe, free on cable would help. Unless it is Fast Times At Ridgemont High, I don't like Sean Penn, and will be surprised if he makes a must see movie for me to need to see.
A well written movie review by you.
Me? Yes, I read it, and appreciated your review. I read all the reviews you post, and like the style, and the manner in which your reviews are written. This one being no exception.
Your review is the closest I will get to seeing it for a good long time. Will I ever? Maybe, free on cable would help. Unless it is Fast Times At Ridgemont High, I don't like Sean Penn, and will be surprised if he makes a must see movie for me to need to see.
A well written movie review by you.
Milk just released this Friday here, so I'm off to watch it sometime over the weekend. I'm just curious to see the movie. Good news is that The Dark Knight was re-released as well, so that gets preference!
I did find Mystic River to be really depressing, as was Eastwood's follow-up, Million Dollar Baby.
I don't mind Sean Penn. I liked him in 21 Grams and U-Turn. It will be something to watch him in a movie where he is supposed to be a pleasant person!
I did find Mystic River to be really depressing, as was Eastwood's follow-up, Million Dollar Baby.
I don't mind Sean Penn. I liked him in 21 Grams and U-Turn. It will be something to watch him in a movie where he is supposed to be a pleasant person!
Milk was my favourite film out of the 5 Best Picture Nominees. It's emotionally moving and incredibly beautiful. I have not seen Frost/Nixon and The Reader, but I'm not a fan of either Daldry and Howard, so I might check those out down the line.
As far as the performances go, Rourke was incredible in his tour de france performance, I wanted Rourke to win, but I can't really say that Penn didn't deserved it either. I mean it's hard to like the guy and I don't blame you, I mean he can come off as an idiot sometimes.
Did he deserved the Oscar for Milk? Absolutely, both of them deserved it but you can only give it to one. Did he deserved the win for Mistic River? Probably not, but it was pretty much the fact that he was 'due' to win, a lot of actors/directors won for their weaker film just to make up for the past, like Scorsese and Denzel Washington. I like Penn speech at the Oscar, but Dustin Lance Black gave the best acceptance speech of the night, hands down.
But you know, Rourke can still come back and win, I mean he was so so close, the race between them were incredibly close, one of the closest race in years - probably slightly similar with to race between Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard last year.
I agree that Emile Hirsch is definitely the one to watch for this decade, I thought he was unbelievably good and was vastly overlooked in that year for his performance in 'Into the Wild', terrific film by Penn also.
As far as the performances go, Rourke was incredible in his tour de france performance, I wanted Rourke to win, but I can't really say that Penn didn't deserved it either. I mean it's hard to like the guy and I don't blame you, I mean he can come off as an idiot sometimes.
Did he deserved the Oscar for Milk? Absolutely, both of them deserved it but you can only give it to one. Did he deserved the win for Mistic River? Probably not, but it was pretty much the fact that he was 'due' to win, a lot of actors/directors won for their weaker film just to make up for the past, like Scorsese and Denzel Washington. I like Penn speech at the Oscar, but Dustin Lance Black gave the best acceptance speech of the night, hands down.
But you know, Rourke can still come back and win, I mean he was so so close, the race between them were incredibly close, one of the closest race in years - probably slightly similar with to race between Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard last year.
I agree that Emile Hirsch is definitely the one to watch for this decade, I thought he was unbelievably good and was vastly overlooked in that year for his performance in 'Into the Wild', terrific film by Penn also.
Did you read my review?
I don't like Penn, so I basically don't watch his movies, so pass.
Wow - I am so glad Gabe mentioned Danny Elfman's score and how it feels intrusive and not compatible with the film. I saw MILK theatrically and I remember several times consciously thinking "this music does not sound right here and there really should be no music at all in this scene". It was almost like tv-movie music and very distracting. I had no idea it was even a Danny Elfman score until later (as it's not his usual bombastic stuff), but it really was quite banal and doesn't fit. How the score got an Oscar nomination is beyond me.
And Gabe is right again, that in the 70's, a music score was used much less for the most part and only in scenes that needed it. Nowawdays, it seems every movie needs music playing in every sequence even when it adds nothing - and actually usually distracts from what's on-screen. I guess directors feel that modern audiences will get restless if there is no music playing in the background at all times. Dumb.
As far as the Penn-Rourke debate. I thought Penn was great in MILK, and then I saw THE WRESTLER and thought Rourke's performance was even more incredible. I do think Rourke maybe should have won because he had to create the whole character himself out of the script, whereas Penn had a blueprint to start with, but both performances and both films are worthy. (I would have awarded THE WRESTLER best picture over any of the nominees). And even though Rourke didn't win, the attention he received alone should help his career get a whole second wind, hopefully.
But people should definitely check out MILK - it is superior to most bio-pics.
And Gabe is right again, that in the 70's, a music score was used much less for the most part and only in scenes that needed it. Nowawdays, it seems every movie needs music playing in every sequence even when it adds nothing - and actually usually distracts from what's on-screen. I guess directors feel that modern audiences will get restless if there is no music playing in the background at all times. Dumb.
As far as the Penn-Rourke debate. I thought Penn was great in MILK, and then I saw THE WRESTLER and thought Rourke's performance was even more incredible. I do think Rourke maybe should have won because he had to create the whole character himself out of the script, whereas Penn had a blueprint to start with, but both performances and both films are worthy. (I would have awarded THE WRESTLER best picture over any of the nominees). And even though Rourke didn't win, the attention he received alone should help his career get a whole second wind, hopefully.
But people should definitely check out MILK - it is superior to most bio-pics.
I hated it. The film is nothing more than a fantasy, I didn't learn anything new, it just reinforced things that are constantly repeated in history. It was nothing more than a one-dimensional praise fest, and I can't believe I wasted 2 hours and 10 minutes of my life watching it(in addition to $8.50 of my money).
It's an absolute disgrace that Penn's flat performance won over Rourke, who delivered possibly the best american performance of this whole decade.
It's an absolute disgrace that Penn's flat performance won over Rourke, who delivered possibly the best american performance of this whole decade.
Didn't get to see this in the theater, but I did get to see The Wrestler, this past weekend. I gotta say, Mickey Rourke gave one of the most gut-wrenching, heartfelt acting performances I've ever seen. But Sean Penn is a marvelous actor who brings his "A Game" even to roles he just takes for the money (See David Kleinfeld in Carlito's Way). If Mick had to lose to somebody, I'm glad it was him. I'll have to keep an eye out for this, next week....
People criticize Van Sant for not releasing the film in time for it to have an impact on prop. 8 so the idea that Penn's win was the Academy's way of showing their support is not only ironic, but its the complete opposite of what should have happened.
i really wanted to see this!!! ill probably be buying it. thanks for the great review
"Milk" and "Rachel Getting Married" were my two favorite films of the 2008. "Milk" was fantastic and i cant wait to add it to my collection. I encourage everyone to see this important story, it will change minds.
MILK is already movie of the year for me... it's going to take something pretty damn special to knock it off that spot. It is such an inspriational movie and Penn (who i'm not that fond of tbh) is stunning - just watch for the switch to real footage of Milk at the end of the movie and you'll see just how amazing his performance is. As for it being a belated protest against Prop 8, doubtful! I think America has already proven it's homophobic credentials over the years and a film like this wouldn't sway the conservative majority, or make that much of a difference against such a hot issue. I just wished MILK had taken the Best Picture Oscar that Brokeback Mountain so rightly deserved but was robbed of, but alas the hype behemoth that is Slumdog took so many undeserved awards that night it just turned the Oscars into a farce. Like you say, this film quite rightly deserves an audience on DVD and I'll certainly be purchasing it.


Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Disc Details
Release Date:
10th March 2008
Discs:
1
Disc Type:
Blu-ray Disc
RCE:
No
Video:
1080p
Aspect:
1.85:1
Anamorphic:
No
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English
Subtitles:
English SDH, French, and Spanish
Extras:
'Remembering Harvey', 'Hollywood Comes to San Francisco', 'Marching for Equality'
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
Gus Van Sant
Cast:
Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco
Genre:
Drama
Length:
129 minutes
Ratings
Amazon.com
FOLLOW DVDACTIVE
Follow our updates
OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
New Easter Eggs





Hot Easter Eggs





Hot Interviews





Most Talked About




